Troy Murphy will be in uniform for the Nets tonight against Portland. That's not saying he will play, but he will be on the active list, which was news to him early last night. "I haven't heard anything about it," Murphy said before the Nets' 102-86 loss to the 76ers. "I'm not sure about all that." But coach Avery Johnson, who acknowledged that maybe the Nets brought Murphy back from injury too soon, said: "He'll be in uniform tomorrow." NY Post

PHILADELPHIA -- This isn’t how Troy Murphy envisioned his homecoming stint: Sitting on the sideline in a suit, perfectly healthy and able, he says, yet clueless as to when he’ll return to the court.

Murphy will be activated for tomorrow’s game against Portland, coach Avery Johnson says, which should represent his first NBA action since Nov. 13.

But the 30-year-old said that's news to him. The New Jersey native indicated before tonight’s game against the 76ers that he doesn’t speak with Johnson -- "not at all" -- and expressed frustration with the coach's critiques of his fitness.

“You have to ask (Johnson why he thinks I wasn’t in shape),” Murphy said. “I’ve been in this league for 10 years. I know what I do. I pride myself in all that. You have to ask him.”

Just minutes earlier, Johnson said he has held Murphy out of the lineup and off the roster “out of respect to him.”

“(It) was to let him get into better basketball shape. When we first got him back he just really wasn’t as strong and his shot just wasn’t going down,” Johnson said. “Getting him back now, no matter how many minutes he plays, he’s going to be much stronger than he was the first time.

“So maybe I rushed him back too soon.”

Murphy, who has been on the inactive list for 11 straight games, didn’t see it that way. If anything, the team’s highest-paid player - who was brought in over the summer as the starting power forward - feels more perplexed than respected. .

“I feel good,” he said. “I felt good when I was playing (earlier in the season).”

“It’s all different because I’ve never been in this situation before. It’s different (because I’m not playing). That’s a big change for me. I come and I try to do as much as possible before the game. I lift weights in the hotel and everything. That’s pretty much what I do.”

I picked him up in my fantasy league and it looks like he didn't even play last night?

He was great for me last year, wtf is going on this year... ill keep him for a bit longer..

He's been dropped 4 times in my league. It sucks because he actually put up good stats last year. Netsdaily said Favors may eventually start and Hump would come off the bench. Not sure where Troy fits in.